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United States Patent |
5,709,890
|
Sanders
|
January 20, 1998
|
Polyaspartic acid and its analogues in combination with insecticides
Abstract
An insecticide composition is enhanced from the standpoint of its ability
to be absorbed by insects, such as red fire ants, particularly
dithiophosphate ester pesticides by the addition of a small amount of a
water soluble non-aromatic polyorganic acid or salt form thereof such as
polyaspartic acid, particularly preferred with a molecular weight in the
range of about 3000 to 40,000.
Inventors:
|
Sanders; J. Larry (Bedford Park, IL)
|
Assignee:
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Donlar Corporation (Bedford Park, IL)
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Appl. No.:
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821037 |
Filed:
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March 20, 1997 |
Current U.S. Class: |
424/620; 424/621; 424/622; 424/623; 424/624; 424/625; 424/626; 424/627; 424/628; 424/629; 424/657; 424/658; 424/659; 424/660; 514/12; 514/13; 514/64; 514/65; 514/75; 514/79; 514/86; 514/95; 514/99; 514/102; 514/109; 514/110; 514/112; 514/114; 514/120; 514/121; 514/122; 514/123; 514/125; 514/126; 514/129; 514/131; 514/134; 514/137; 514/139; 514/140; 514/141; 514/142; 514/143; 514/478; 514/479; 514/480; 514/481; 514/482; 514/483; 514/484; 514/485; 514/486; 514/487; 514/488; 514/489; 514/490; 514/504; 514/519; 514/521; 514/531; 514/762; 514/763; 514/766; 514/773 |
Intern'l Class: |
A01N 059/14; A01N 059/22; A01N 027/00; A01N 037/34; 139-143; 478-490; 773; 65; 64; 519; 521; 531; 504; 762; 763; 766 |
Field of Search: |
514/12-13,75,79,86,95,99,102,109,110,112,114,120-123,125-126,129,131,134,137
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
2578652 | Dec., 1951 | Cassaday | 260/461.
|
2962521 | Nov., 1960 | Usul | 260/461.
|
5350735 | Sep., 1994 | Kinnersley | 504/147.
|
5360892 | Nov., 1994 | Bonsignore et al. | 528/354.
|
5457176 | Oct., 1995 | Adler et al. | 538/328.
|
5540927 | Jul., 1996 | Jason et al. | 424/257.
|
5580840 | Dec., 1996 | Harms et al. | 504/115.
|
5593947 | Jan., 1997 | Kinnersley t al. | 504/283.
|
Foreign Patent Documents |
5246863 | Sep., 1993 | JP.
| |
Other References
Technological Breakthrough on Fertilizer Use, Agri Finance, Apr. 1993, pp.
16-17.
Kinnersley, et al., Plant Growth Regulation 9, 137-146 (1990).
Calpus Abstract Accession No. 1995: 616583(1995).
WPIDS Abstract Accession No. 93-339638 (1993).
Sinclair, Richard G., "Slow Release Pesticide System . . . ", Environmental
Science & Technology, vol. 7(10), 1973, pp. 955-956.
Turner, D.J. et al., "Complexing Agents as Herbicide Additives," Weed
Research, vol. 18, 1978, pp. 199-207.
|
Primary Examiner: Pak; John
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Zarley, McKee, Thomte, Voorhees, & Sease
Parent Case Text
This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/615,445 filed on Mar. 14,
1996 which is now U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,133.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An insecticide composition which comprises, an insecticide selected from
the group consisting of chlorinated hydrocarbons, pyrethroids, natural
boron insecticidal compounds, and natural arsenic insecticidal compounds,
and
a small but insecticide absorption enhancing effective amount of a water
soluble, non-aromatic, polyorganic acid or salt thereof which is
polyaspartic acid, said polyaspartic acid having a molecular weight larger
than 1500.
2. The insecticide composition of claim 1 wherein the polyaspartic acid has
a molecular weight in the range of about 1500 to about 100,000.
3. The insecticide composition of claim 2 wherein the polyaspartic acid has
a molecular weight in the range of about 3000 to 40,000.
4. A method of enhancing the absorption effectiveness of chlorinated
hydrocarbon, pyretheroid, natural boron and natural arsenic insecticides,
said method comprising:
adding to an insecticide selected from the group consisting of chlorinated
hydrocarbons, pyrethroids, natural boron insecticidal compounds, and
natural arsenic insecticidal compounds a small but insecticide absorption
enhancing effective amount of a water soluble, non-aromatic polyorganic
acid or salt form thereof which is a polyamino acid or a copolymer of said
acid, selected from the group consisting of polyaspartic acid,
polyglutamic acid, polyglycine, polylysine, a copolymer of cysteine and
glutamic acid and a terpolymer of cysteine, glutamic acid and aspartic
acid, and salt form thereof, said polyamino acid having a molecular weight
larger than 1500.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein the polyamino acid is polyaspartic acid.
6. The method of claim 4 wherein the polyaspartic acid has a molecular
weight in the range of about 1500 to about 100,000.
7. The method of claim 4 wherein the polyamino acid is polyaspartic acid
having a molecular weight in the range of about 3000 to 40,000.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to insecticides. More particularly, in a preferred
aspect it relates to an improved method for enhancing effectiveness of
dithiophosphate insecticides in absorption by certain insects to effect a
kill.
Dithiophosphate insecticides of the type with which the present invention
is concerned may be represented by the formula:
##STR1##
in which R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 are each an aliphatic or
aromatic hydrocarbon radical. Such esters are well known and may be
conveniently prepared, for instance, by reacting an O,O-dialkyl
dithiophosphate with a dialkyl maleate as described and claimed in U.S.
Pat. No. 2,578,652. A typical and well known ester of this class is
O,O-dimethyl-S-(1,2-dicarbethoxyethyl)-dithiophosphate which is
commercially available as "Malathion.RTM.." It is with this latter
compound that much of the test experience with the present invention is
particularly concerned. The following description does apply to
dithiophosphate ester insecticides in general, and as explained later, to
a broader class of insecticides as well. Thus, it is to be understood that
the present process is equally as applicable to other insecticides besides
dithiophosphate esters.
As heretofore mentioned, such dithiophosphate ester insecticides and their
preparation are known and have been known and effective for many years.
However, their effectiveness against some insects of which red fire ants
are but one example, has been somewhat limited at lower concentrations.
Other classic insecticide classes besides the organo phosphates and
dithiophosphate esters in particular are also in need of enhanced
effectiveness for certain insects. Examples of such other insecticide
classes include carbamates, chlorinated hydrocarbons, synthetic
pyrethroids, insect growth regulators, botanicals such as nicotine plant
derivatives and naturally occurring insecticides such as boron and arsenic
compounds. These are all within the scope of the present invention.
Moreover, in order to minimize pollution risks, there are always continuing
efforts towards increasing the effectiveness of known insecticides from
the standpoint of the ability to achieve the same level of effectiveness,
but with less insecticide.
Accordingly, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide
a composition which enhances the effectiveness of certain classic types of
insecticides, particularly the preferred dithiophosphate pesticides like
Malathion.RTM..
Another objective of the present invention is to achieve enhanced
effectiveness of insecticides by enhancing the ability of the insecticide
to be absorbed by cell membranes of the exterior cell layers of the
insect, thereby substantially increasing the effectiveness and thus
allowing reduction of the treatment or dosage level required.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide an insecticide
effectiveness enhancing composition which uses as an additive a polluting
free additive that is environmentally unobjectionable.
The method and means of accomplishing each of the above objectives will
become apparent from the detailed description of the invention which
follows.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An insecticide composition which comprises an insecticide such as a
dithiophosphate ester pesticide, particularly Malathion.RTM., in a
preferred composition combination with an absorption enhancing effective
amount of a water soluble non-aromatic polyorganic acid or salt form of
such an acid, particularly polyaspartic acid. The invention in a broader
aspect also involves a method of enhancing the dose effectiveness of
certain classes of insecticides by adding to those a membrane penetration
effectiveness aid, such as polyaspartic acid.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is premised upon the fact that it has been discovered
that certain compounds, namely certain polymeric organic amino acids, as
set forth in earlier commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,735, which, along
with each of its continuation-in-part applications, namely Ser. No.
08/313,436, filed Sep. 27, 1994, which is now U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,947,
Ser. No. 08/439,279, filed May 11, 1995, which is now U.S. Pat. No.
5,580,840, and Ser. No. 08/447,784, filed May 23, 1995, which is now U.S.
Pat. No. 5,661,103, all of which disclosures are incorporated herein by
reference, can be used effectively in enhancing the penetration of
dithiophosphate ester insecticides such as Malathion.RTM. through the
exterior surface cells of an insect, such as red fire ants.
The invention, of course, is not limited to the treatment of red fire ants,
but can be used effectively for treating any of the pest insects for any
agricultural or horticultural crop, including fruits, cereals, vegetables,
flowers and ornamentals. The invention is also useful for any application
where insecticides are used for control of insect pests, such as in homes,
farm buildings, grain elevators, greenhouses or control of pest insects in
the general environment, such as ants, cockroaches, spiders, fleas, house
flies and the like, as well as disease bearing and nuisance insects such
as mosquitoes, chiggers, black flies, horse flies and the like.
In general, the polymeric organic acid can be simply added to the liquid
form of the insecticide, generally within a weight ratio of from 1:100
(polyaspartate:insecticide) to 100:1 (polyaspartate:insecticide).
The polymeric organic acids, to be suitable for the practice of the present
invention, must be water soluble, non-aromatic, and must have a molecular
weight sufficiently large to preclude absorption into system of plants. To
that end, the non-aromatic polymeric organic acid units (residues), or
mers, in the linear polymer chain that constitutes the polymeric acid
organic acids having a molecular weight in excess of about 100,000 usually
exhibit poor solubility in water for the present purposes. Thus, for
present purposes a polymeric organic acid molecular weight not larger than
about 100,000 is preferred. Particularly, preferred molecular weight is in
the range of about 1,500 to about 100,000.
Illustrative are polymeric organic acids, with or without carboxylic acid,
thiocarboxylic acid, imidocarboxy, and/or amino side chains such as, for
example, polyacrylic acid, polytartaric acid, polymaleic acid, polylysine,
polyglutamic acid, polyaspartic acid, polyglycine, polycysteine,
polycysteine/glutamic acid, mixtures of the foregoing or their salts,
copolymers of the above, and the like. Thus, block or random copolymers or
terpolymers of several organic acids are also within the purview of the
present invention as the polymeric acid component thereof. For example,
the utilized polymeric acid component can be a block copolymer of aspartic
acid residues and L-lactic acid residues, a random copolymer of aspartic
acid residues and glycolic acid residues, a conjugated protein constituted
by amino acid residue chains interconnected by one or more polycarboxylic
acid residues, a copolymer of acrylic acid and acrylamide, and the like.
Polymers of organic acids are commercially available. In addition, such
polymeric acids, especially poly(amino acids), can be made, inter alia, by
thermal condensation methods. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,597 to
Koskan, Little et al., American Chemical Society 97:263-279 (1991), and
U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,981 to Harada et al.
While the above description has been presented with particular examples of
the classic organo phosphate esters such as Malathion.RTM., other
insecticides (as earlier mentioned) can be used with the same observed
enhanced effectiveness. For example, in the specific working examples
below, data is presented for carbamates such as 1-Naphthyl methylcarbamate
and as well for Diazinon.RTM..
The insecticide, in combination with the polyorganic acid or salt, such as
polyaspartic acid, may be applied by direct spray, dusting, drenching, may
be applied in granular form, as a wet powder, an aerosol, by baiting, as
an attractant, or it can be broadcast. In short, the application method is
not critical.
The following examples are offered to further illustrate, but not
necessarily limit the process and to demonstrate the compositions of the
present invention as showing enhanced insecticide effectiveness in
comparison with the insecticide alone. It will be apparent to those of
ordinary skill in the art that certain modifications can be made to the
process and composition without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention here described.
EXAMPLE 1
A series of experiments were conducted with Malathion.RTM., which is a
dithiophosphate ester insecticide with a formula as hereinbefore described
wherein R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are methyl, and R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 are ethyl.
It is chemically named O,O,-dimethyl)-S-(1,2
dicarbethoxyethyl)-dithiophosphate. The tests were used for controlling
the red imported fire ant. By way of background, the red imported fire ant
has migrated throughout the Southern United States and is predicted to
continue moving to areas with similar ecological conditions, such as
Denver, Colo. Red imported fire ant mounds are a nuisance in home lawns,
industrial areas, and agricultural farmland and grazing lands. The red
imported fire ant attacks humans, domestic animals and wildlife. The bites
or "stings" frequently become infected and have caused blindness in
animals and extended discomfort in humans for periods of two weeks and
longer. It is therefore desirable to control these ants.
In all of the foregoing experiments, polyaspartic acid refers to a 41% (by
weight) solution of sodium polyaspartate, having a molecular weight of
between 3000 and 5000, in water. Two solutions of insecticide were
prepared. Solution 1 contained 2 Tablespoons per gallon (2TBS/gal) of
Malathion.RTM. in water. Solution 2 contained 2TBS/gal of Malathion.RTM.
and 2 TBS/gal of polyaspartic acid. The two solutions were applied on
active mounds of red fire ants at ambient temperatures from 80.degree. F.
to 85.degree. F.
The purpose of the test was to evaluate a moderately mild insecticide alone
and with polyaspartic acid membrane enhancing aids added to the
Malathion.RTM..
Ten mounds of active red fire ants were sprayed at ambient temperatures of
80.degree. F. to 85.degree. F. These were treated with Malathion.RTM.
alone and with Malathion.RTM. plus the hereinbefore described polyaspartic
acid.
Ratings were made at four hours post-treatment and at 24 hours
post-treatment for activity of each mound. A plastic spoon was inserted
into and removed from each mound several times in rapid succession to
aggravate the ants.
Internal activity of the mounds was evaluated by digging into each mound
with a sharp shovel to observe activity and channel configuration. The
results are shown in the table below.
______________________________________
Percent Red Imported
Fire Ants Controlled
Treatment 4 Hours 24 Hours
______________________________________
MALATHION .RTM.
0 0
MALATHION .RTM. +
99* 100
Polyaspartic Acid
300-500 mw
______________________________________
*only one ant observed; possibly a scout
From the above table it can be seen that polyaspartic acid, when added to
the Malathion.RTM., effectively controlled the red imported fire ant,
whereas the Malathion.RTM. alone provided virtually no control.
When the above was repeated with other insects such as spiders, mites,
other ants and bees, similar results are obtained in that kill
effectiveness at the same dose level is dramatically enhanced.
EXAMPLES 2-6
The labeled rates of the insecticides used in the following examples are as
follows: Malathion.RTM.--2 teaspoons per gallon; Diazinon.RTM.--2
teaspoons per gallon; Sevin.RTM.--1 tablespoon per gallon. Solutions of
insecticide, with and without added polyaspartic acid, were prepared.
Treatment of insects was accomplished as follows: Prior to introduction of
insects, 50 mL of insecticide solution was added to each of several one
quart jars. The jars were sealed, shaken, drained and allowed to dry for 2
hours at ambient room temperature.
Red Imported Fire Ants (RIFA) were treated with insecticide Carbamate
(1-Naphthyl methylcarbamate), Diazinon.RTM.
(O,O-dimethyl-O-›6-methyl-2-(1-methylethyl)-4-pyrimidinyl!
phosphorothioate) and Malathion.RTM. and in combination with
Polyaspartates. The ants were placed in sealed containers, and their
mortality and knock-down rates were taken over time.
Table 1 shows that there were little differences in mortality of RIFA with
a 0.03 labeled rate of Sevin.RTM. (1-Naphthyl methylcarbamate) used in
combination with 1.times.(1 TBS/Gal) or 2.times.(2 TBS/Gal) of
Polyaspartates. The percent knock-down (Table 2), however, was
significantly increased at the 1 and 2 hour exposure with the
2.times.Polyaspartates in combination with the 0.03 labeled rate of
Sevin.RTM..
Malathion.RTM. (0.3 labeled rate), in combination with 1.times.and
2.times.Polyaspartates rates significantly increased the mortality of RIFA
in one hour as shown in Table 3.
Table 4 shows significant affect of Polyaspartates in combination with a
0.25 labeled rate of Diazinon.RTM. applied along at one hour of exposure.
At 0.125 labeled rate of Diazinon.RTM. the combination of Polyaspartates
was significantly more effective on mortality of RIFA (Table 5) at 2
hours. At four hour exposure Diazinon.RTM. at the 0.03 labeled rate shows
significant increases in mortality of RIFA with a 1.times. and 2.times. of
polyaspartates rate compared to the insecticide along (Table 6).
TABLE 1
______________________________________
Sevin .RTM. at 0.03 label rate
Hours Active % Mortality
______________________________________
2 insecticide only
26.1%
2 insecticide, 1X
27.1%
2 insecticide, 2X
35.1%
______________________________________
TABLE 2
______________________________________
Sevin .RTM. at 0.03 label rate
Hours Active % Mortality
______________________________________
1 insecticide only
18.7%
1 insecticide, 1X
13.6%
1 insecticide, 2X
80.7%
2 insecticide only
80.0%
2 insecticide, 1X
80.0%
2 insecticide, 2X
94.0%
______________________________________
TABLE 3
______________________________________
Malation .RTM. at 0.3 label rate
Hours Active % Mortality
______________________________________
1 insecticide only
47.7%
1 insecticide, 1X
79.3%
1 insecticide, 2X
76.0%
______________________________________
TABLE 4
______________________________________
Diazinon .RTM. at 0.25 label rate
Hours Active % Mortality
______________________________________
1 insecticide only
70.8%
1 insecticide, 2X
91.0%
______________________________________
TABLE 5
______________________________________
Diazinon .RTM. at 0.125 label rate
Hours Active % Mortality
______________________________________
2 insecticide only
53.4%
2 insecticide, 2X
69.9%
______________________________________
TABLE 6
______________________________________
Diazinon .RTM. at 0.03 label rate
Hours Active % Mortality
______________________________________
4 insecticide only
10.7%
4 insecticide, 1X
68.5%
4 insecticide, 2X
91.8%
______________________________________
It therefore can be seen that the invention accomplishes at least all of
its stated objectives.
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